A Red Ruby Christmas
by malzi21
Summary: The holidays are supposed to be a time of happiness and joy, but everything that has happened to Heather has left her in a grinchy mood. It's up to Justin and one special present to turn her holiday season around, but he runs into a few obstacles on the way. My Christmas present to CharlieHarperFan88!


**Hey guys! This is my first holiday season here on FanFiction, so what better way is there to celebrate the holidays than giving? This here is a Christmas present for my good friend CharlieHarperFan88. This also qualifies as my longest chapter/oneshot to date, so I put a lot into this one. I hope you like it man, and to everyone else out there reading... enjoy this JustHer holiday oneshot! **

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Ahhh... the Total Drama Christmas Party. In the winter following the conclusion of the fourth season, the producers arranged for the reunion to be in the form of a Christmas party. It was held in the finest establishment that the show could afford: the Playa de Losers. With the show's attorneys still struggling with their legal battle, the producers proved to be much kinder than their sadistic host. Chris's treatment of the campers being so merciless and painful, it was refreshing for Playa Des Losers to provide a much more relaxed and laid-back feeling.

The entire resort was decked out in the finest Christmas decorations known to man. There were huge green and red Christmas lights adorning the walls, the finest holiday was blasting from the stereo, and a gallon of eggnog was being drained every minute thanks to a certain fat boy with a maple leaf on his shirt. Not to mention there was one hell of a tree covered with ornaments, silver boas, and all the best decorations one could imagine. Well, except for the star, that is. Instead of a glowing angel, it was displaying a nice, star-encrusted replica of Chris himself. After all, what would a Total Drama party be without its vainglorious host?

It was definitely in the spirit of Christmas. Indeed, everybody was having a good time and sharing a laugh while they would sing Christmas carols and eating a nice batch of Christmas cookies, again in the spirit of the show, that were shaped like their host's head. The smell of gingerbread filled the evening air with a pleasant aroma. Yes, it definitely felt like Christmas time. Unfortunately, as all the other former contestants were busy having a very good time, one specific contestant wasn't quite as jolly as the rest of the them.

Who was this one contestant you ask? It was none other than the Queen Bee herself, Heather! She was perhaps the most deceitful person that every camper knew when she was being faced head-on, and better yet, she was the most popular off-camera as well. She was popular for a multitude of reasons. For starters, no matter what one thought of her, no one could deny that she was hot. With long and silky black hair, and those luscious legs, there was absolutely no denying it. And then, despite any of her malicious actions, people had to respect her as a competitor. The image of her manipulating the Latin mastermind to claim the million was still fresh in many people's minds. No matter the opinion, at the end of the day one had to respect Heather.

But throughout the rest of the Total Drama series, she just had to go through the worst kind of hell she would ever feel. Losing her precious locks to the dumbest blonde that she ever knew, having to become dipped in tar by a female geek with glasses, and having her tooth knocked out by her most hated enemy LeShawna... and that was just the physical damage. There was that, and then there was Alejandro.

In retrospect, Heather could see why she fell for him. They were both evil. They both had evil siblings that were the instigators of their self-serving natures. They were the two greatest antagonists in Total Drama history. And then he kissed her. While the kiss was nice to begin with, her primary goal was the money. In her mind, it was always money first and love later. But unfortunately, she got cheated out of the million with no thanks to an obsessed Ezekiel. While that was disappointing, she did get a nice consolation prize in Alejandro. Unfortunately, said consolation prize was now turned into a robot thanks to his whole entire body dipped in lava like a caramel apple. Through it all, Heather and Alejandro became boyfriend and girlfriend, but despite that, she grim feeling that it just wasn't gonna last.

To put it simply, Heather was with a robot from now on, and it was starting to get a little boring. They couldn't make out, they couldn't even cuddle and worst of all, Heather just couldn't handle that irritating robot voice of his anymore. This wasn't what Heather really wanted. She wanted the human form of Al back, but unfortunately, it wasn't gonna happen. Nothing was going to bring Alejandro back to his human form. It was then that Heather finally had enough of trying to live with a robot as a boyfriend. She was going to break up with up. Plain and simple.

Back at the Christmas party, Alejandro was being comforted by the still feral Ezekiel. Well, more like being thoroughly examined, as Ezekiel was fascinated by the metal creature in his reduced state. Heather, meanwhile, was a little weary and tired having tried to drink her sudden anger and pain away with eggnog, a tactic that, much to her chagrin, was failing.

"Look at those morons..." Heather said watching from afar. "Look at all of them. It's like they think a fat man in red giving random crap to people can suddenly solve all their problems. Like their problems suddenly cease to exist. I would have never come here to this bullshit party. I would've stayed home instead, but no, my nice sassy mother told me I have to get out of the house because it's good for me. Yeah, right..."

Most of the contestants failed to notice Heather's grinchy mood. Who could blame them? They were busy being merry in a merry atmosphere; it would only be natural to assume that everyone else was in a similar mood. But one contestant had a keen eye, and noticed the one contestant who wasn't in the same holiday spirit.

That contestant would be the male model himself, Justin! Perhaps he had motive for noticing what no one else did. While there was nothing wrong with chilling with his band, The Drama Brothers, for a majority of the third season, his absence allowed newcomer Alejandro to steal his thunder as the heartthrob of the series. And as the new alpha-male it was only fitting that he fancied the most desirable female of the series to be his own.

That was what drove Justin to his boiling point. He had a similar mindset, and it was infuriating to see, in his mind, a Latin carbon copy of himself swoop in and steal the girl he felt should have been his! And now, at long last, he finally had a chance to regain his former glory!

He approached the Queen Bee slowly. Few things in this world were scarier than an enraged Heather.

"Umm... Heather?"

Heather turned around, surprised. "Justin?" Then she appeared angry again. "What do you want?"

"You just seemed kinda angry. Like you don't want to be here."

"I'm always like this!" she retorted. "And I don't want to be here!"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, there isn't! And it's none of your business anyway!"

Justin sighed. "I'm just concerned. You shouldn't be angry during the holidays. Christmas is a time when you should be joyous with those you care about, and to end each year on a happy note."

"What's there to be joyous about? No one cared about me enough to even give me a damn present! My parents were 'too busy with work', and the one guy who may have had the decency to get me a gift is a fucking robot! How am I supposed to celebrate with those who care about me when no one even cares enough to get me one lousy present?"

Justin was taken aback. He wouldn't have guessed that Heather has been so hurt the entire time. "Christmas isn't about the number of gifts you receive. As long as you know in your heart that people care about you, and I can assure you that people do, then you can still enjoy the true essence of the holiday season."

Heather was yelling now. "Cut the crap! Anyone can tell you're just bullshitting me! You're probably doing this as some sort of prank! Go mess with some other bimbo! Screw Christmas for all I care!"

With that, she left with a huff, and she left Justin increasingly concerned. He knew Heather wasn't one to be overly jolly, but he couldn't think of an instance where he had seen her this down before. Something was clearly off here.

"Something is clearly off here," he mused. "She specifically mentioned presents. But what could I get her?"

An idea suddenly hit him. Back in the second season, when he was infatuated with Courtney, he emptied nearly his entire pocket on a beautiful ruby necklace crafted in the shape of a heart, in hopes that he would win the heart of the fiesty CIT.

Unfortunately, the only things his efforts earned him were an angry rejection and a knee to the groin. Despite all the pain the necklace had already caused him, he decided to keep it anyway, just in case he met a special someone that he could use it on.

In his mind, it was clear. His special someone was Heather. The ruby was meant to be given to Heather. And what better time was there to give it to her, when all she was desiring was one gift? It may have only been one gift, but what a gift it would be!

Wasting no time, Justin hurried up to his room where the ruby was hidden. He swung open the closet door to retrieve the precious gem...

...

...

...

The model smacked his head in stupidity. He had allowed Owen to room with him until his room was deemed livable once more, but his kindness came with a horrible price. Owen's pile of smelly clothes filled nearly the entire closet. The horrible stench flooded out of the closet, and prompted Justin to immediately close the door.

"Oh my God! Owen!" the model shrieked in disgust.

Once he regained his composure, he stood by the door again, contemplating his options.

"Ok, there's a spectacular gift for Heather inside that closet. There's also the worst smell known to man. Present... smell... Present... smell..."

After about a minute of thinking aloud, Justin finally made his choice. The opportunity was once in a lifetime, to present his love with a gift sure to win her over. It was worth climbing the highest of mountains for. Even a mountain of stench.

Plugging his nose, Justin opened the door once again and began searching through the enormous pile. For an hour, he worked tirelessly, going through Owen's stained shirts and pants and worst of all - underwear - but to no avail. With all his efforts looking like they'd be all for naught, Justin considered throwing in the towel.

"This is hopeless." he wailed. "There's no way it's in here. It probably got moved or something. Maybe I can just buy something from the gift shop and hope she takes it well."

With one last attempt, Justin threw aside a final shirt and...

...

...

...

It wasn't a pretty site. Trapped under all that filth, the ruby necklace was unsurprisingly covered in filth as well. The crimson hue was visible no longer, replaced by a yucky shade of brown.

Justin was speechless. All his hopes seemed to evaporate before his eyes. The one gift he felt could sway Heather's heart was ruined.

"No…" he muttered. "No, no, no, no, no. There has to be a way. This must be fixable." he told himself, panicking as he desperately tried to rub the filth off the gem. "This can't be permanent. Soap and water. That'll do it. It'll be good as new in no time!" he declared optimistically as he rushed to the bathroom sink.

No time was apparently longer than he thought. For another hour, he scrubbed vigorously in an attempt to clear the ruby of its filth. While it wasn't easy, slowly but surely, the gem was starting to regain its stunning shade of red. When the task was finally completed, the ruby had regained all of its former glory.

"Finally!" the model exclaimed in exhaustion. "My work here is done. A gift finally worthy to present to my queen!"

Within seconds, Justin was out the bathroom door and had exited his room to find Heather. The ruby seemed to glisten in his hand, as if it were telling him that everything would be all right.

"Everything will be all right." he told himself. "In fact, everything will be great! I'm on my way to present the gift of a lifetime, and nothing else can stop me from my task now!"

Upon reaching the elevator, he frantically pressed the button to head up. The door almost immediately opened, and behind the door revealed…

...

...

...

The squeals of his fangirls, Katie, Sadie, and Beth. While he was relieved that they had initially stopped following him to chase after Alejandro during season three, it had disappointed him somewhat that he was seeming to lose his appeal. So while their return to gushing over him was a welcoming sight, he was obviously not in the mood for such gushing at the moment.

"Omigosh! Justin! Hi!" the girls exclaimed simultaneously, rushing up to the model and crowding around him.

"Ladies, hi." he said uncomfortably. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I kinda have to do something right now…"

"We should go with you!" Beth cut him off, Katie and Sadie nodding vigorously in agreement. "It'll be so much fun!"

Justin's mind raced. He knew from experience that there was no shaking off these fangirls. Once they found their target, they stuck like glue. Using this logic, he did the only thing he could think of.

"Hey, Trent! What's up?"

The girls looked around wildly. "Trent? Where?"

"Oh, darn shame. He must not of heard me. Would you mind telling him I said hi? He just went around that corner, I think."

"No problem Justin!"

"Maybe I can tell him hi, too."

"I wanted to say hi to him!"

"Well, I wanted to first!"

As the girls started to bicker, Justin sensed his opportunity and rushed into the elevator.

"Thank goodness." he breathed a sigh of relief as the doors shut in front of him. "Bullet dodged there. Now, onwards!"

Once the elevator reached Heather's floor, Justin stepped out into the hallway and nervously approached the Queen Bee's room.

"Okay... Everything will be okay... It'll all be okay... Shit, I hope this'll be okay."

After about a minute of standing there, muttering to himself, at last he hid the necklace behind his back and knocked.

"Whoever it is, just get out!" the voice called from the inside. "I don't feel like seeing anyone right now!"

After a long pause, he finally responded. "It's me again… Justin… I just wanted to stop by… see how you were doing."

"Still pretty crappy, thanks for asking!" she called out again. "Can you just go? I don't want your help. I don't need anyone's pity!"

"It's… not pity… It's more… concern." He replied, choosing his words carefully. "No one should feel like this during the holidays. No one deserves to be like this."

"That sounds an awful lot like pity to me!" She seemed to be getting angrier. "The holidays mean nothing! What's Christmas about nowadays? Really? We're a secular people now, all we do is just use this time of year as an excuse to buy a bunch of shit and sing songs and bake cookies, and try to hide all our problems just so we can look happy. This isn't any different from March or July or October. These mean nothing! The decorations, the food, the lights, the fucking tree! They don't mean anything. They don't come from the heart!"

The raven haired girl finished her livid rant breathing heavily.

"Well… if some one truly means it… any gift comes from the heart." Justin finally responded.

"I don't need your pity gift! You probably just bought something from the hotel gift shop! I can personally tell you I will smash your gift to pieces if that's the case!"

"Wow." he breathed to himself. "Good thing I found the ruby."

Justin heard a frustrated sigh from the other side. "Look, if I just take the gift, will you get out?"

"If you take the gift, then yes, I'll leave."

Another sigh. "Fine. Come in. The door's unlocked."

Justin opened the door and stepped inside the room to see a depressing sight. Heather was on her bed with her face buried in her pillow, and the room around her was a mess.

"I have it... if you want to see it." he finally said after taking in his surroundings.

"Just give it to me. I'll look at it later."

"Trust me. You want to see it now."

Heather finally took her head out of her pillow. "What? Did you suddenly get your hands on a diamond necklace or something?"

"Well, not quite a diamond, but..."

At this, Justin finally took his hands from behind his back, and presented the necklace to Heather. For everything the beautiful gem had gone through, it was still an incredible sight. The golden frame shined in harmony with the lights adorning the walls. The ruby's pulsating shade of red seemed to glow in the spirit of Christmas, as if all the energy of the holiday season was condensed into one amazing jewel. The heart shaped wonder seemed to represent everything that right in the world, and everything that was right about Christmas.

Heather was speechless. The ruby was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. All her previous woes were forgotten in that instant. Nothing else mattered, for she was entranced by the priceless treasure before her eyes.

"Justin... I... thank you. This is the best present anyone's ever gotten for me."

"Well, I went through a lot to get it. I wanted to use it on someone I felt was truly worth it."

"And you think I'm that person?"

"Absolutely. I know you're that person."

They sat in comfortable silence for about a minute. Justin was in satasfaction that all his work had paid off, Heather was still overwhelmed by the amazing gift in front of her.

"The night is still young." Justin finally spoke up. "Do you want to head back to the party?"

"You know what? Yeah, I do. Christmas is a time to be merry. Let's go."

They got up and began to walk out the door, but as they were doing so, Heather accidentally dropped the ruby.

"Oh, I'll get it!" they said simultaneously. They both went down to pick up the ruby, and then they saw it.

The mistletoe hanging on the doorway.

"Oh... um..." Heather started.

"There's a mistletoe."

"Yeah."

"Should we?"

"Well..." Heather considered. "It's a Christmas tradition. We can't just break it."

"All right... um... let's do this."

The two slowly began to lean, and finally pressed their lips against one another. The feeling was incredible for both of them. They could feel the fireworks going off, the fuzzy feeling in their stomachs, the overwhelming surge that was rushing through their bodies... everything.

When the two finally parted, they both had huge smiles on their faces.

"That was... that was... wow." Heather breathed.

" was incredible" Justin responded. "Well, should we head down?"

"We should."

As they started towards the elevator, Heather turned to her new boyfriend. "Merry Christmas, Justin."

"Merry Christmas, Heather."

As they leaned in for another kiss, they couldn't help but feel that this indeed was a sign. Everything seemed perfect. They had a perfect romance, instigated by a perfect gift, and sealed with a perfect kiss. They couldn't help but feel this was the work of Christmas magic.

With a little help from the red ruby.

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**Admittedly, I'm bigger on Aleheather than JustHer, but I really enjoyed writing this one regardless. I saw a lot of potential for Justin right around the TDI special and early TDA, so while I'm taking a crack at his nicer side as opposed to his antagonistic/narcissistic one, it was really fun exploring Justin's character, and giving him depth that the writers never gave him.**

**Once again, I'd like to thank CharlieHarperFan88 for requesting this. I present this humble gift to you! In case of the very real possibility that I don't post something in between now and the end of the holiday season, Happy Holidays to all my fellow authors out there! **

**As always, suggestions are always welcomed, and please review! **


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